Postage meters are devices for dispensing value in the form of postage printed on a mailpiece such as an envelope. The term postage meter also includes other similar meters that dispense an indication of value such as parcel post meters and tax stamp machines. Postage meters of this type print and account for postage (value) stored within the meter.
Since the above-mentioned postage meters have a finite amount of postage value (to be dispensed) stored therein, they will eventually run out of stored postage value such that the postage meter is disabled from printing postage until additional postage value is added to the postage meter. Remote meter resetting systems have been developed which provide the capability of having postage added to these postage meters without requiring the postage meter to be physically brought into the post office. Examples of such conventional remote postage meter resetting systems are shown, for example, in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,447,890 and 4,097,923, each of which are incorporated herein by reference.
While the aforementioned remote postage meter resetting systems work very well, increased use of these postage meters is desired by postal authorities because the postage value within the meter is paid for in advance of its dispensing. Additionally, increased use of postage meters reduces the need for stamps and the costs associated with such stamps that relate to their printing, storage, distribution, and sale. Furthermore, the counterfeiting of stamps and the reuse of stamps that have been “washed” to remove a postage cancellation mark present other reasons as to why metered mail is preferable to stamped mail.
The increased use of postage meters that are capable of printing/producing a postage indicium including a self-verifying cryptographic code would save the postal service a great deal of the money which is now spent to produce and distribute stamps or which is lost due to the use of fraudulent stamps. Accordingly, what is needed is a postage metering system that rewards users based on the amount of use of the system thereby encouraging the use of the postage metering system instead of stamps.